Opening of the 40th National Table Tennis Championship of Nhan Dan Newspaper

Panorama of the opening ceremony.

Attending the opening ceremony were comrades: Le Quoc Minh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, President of the Vietnam Journalists Association, Head of the Steering Committee of the Award; Le Ngoc Tuan - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Kon Tum Province; Que Dinh Nguyen - Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Deputy Head of the Steering Committee of the Award; Tran Viet Cuong - Member of the Editorial Board; Phan Huy Thang - Member of the Editorial Board; Tran Huu Viet - Head of the Culture - Arts Department of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Head of the Organizing Committee of the Award; Vu Thai Hong - Deputy Head of Department of High Performance Sports II - General Department of Sports and Physical Training...

Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper Le Quoc Minh, Head of the Steering Committee of the Award, presented commemorative medals to the teams.

Along with that, on the side of the host unit Gia Lai province, there were comrades: Ho Van Nien - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Council of Gia Lai province; Vo Ngoc Thanh - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Gia Lai province and representatives of departments, branches, leaders of the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department, Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Gia Lai province, representative of the main companion, Ca Mau Petroleum Fertilizer Joint Stock Company.

In his opening speech, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Head of the Steering Committee of the Tournament Le Quoc Minh emphasized: This year marks the 40th anniversary of the National Table Tennis Championship of Nhan Dan Newspaper, organized under the direction of the Central Party Secretariat. Over the past 40 years, Nhan Dan Newspaper has coordinated with the General Department of Sports and Physical Training and the Vietnam Table Tennis Federation to accompany generations of athletes, coaches, and table tennis fans in the country, successfully organizing the highest professional competition at the national level, with the most prestige and scale of Vietnamese table tennis.

Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper Le Quoc Minh, Head of the Steering Committee, delivered the opening speech.

The organizers are proud that these tournaments have contributed to selecting and training many generations of talented table tennis players, competing excellently in domestic and international arenas, bringing glory to the Fatherland.

“The 40th National Table Tennis Championship of Nhan Dan Newspaper in 2022 has nearly 170 athletes from 16 table tennis delegations from provinces, cities, industries and enterprises across the country participating. This is one of the tournaments with the largest number of athletes in the past 10 years. This year's tournament takes place in the context of Vietnam successfully organizing the 31st Southeast Asian Games - SEA Games, creating a great resonance in public opinion among friends in the region and internationally,” emphasized Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper Le Quoc Minh.

Sideline activities such as voting for the National Table Tennis Beauty Championship, the photo contest “Beautiful Moments at the National Table Tennis Championship”, and social and charitable activities during the tournament have increased the attractiveness and received support and welcome from the public. The prestige, scale and stature of the tournament have also received enthusiastic support from many sponsors, including the effective support of the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group and especially of Ca Mau Petroleum Fertilizer Joint Stock Company, the main sponsor for 10 consecutive seasons.

On behalf of the local Organizing Committee, comrade Tran Hong Nhung, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Gia Lai said: Gia Lai province is very pleased and honored to be chosen by Nhan Dan Newspaper, the General Department of Sports and Physical Training, and the Vietnam Table Tennis Federation as the host venue for the 40th Nhan Dan Newspaper National Table Tennis Championship in 2022 for the PetroVietnam-PVCFC Cup.

“This is a good opportunity for the people of Gia Lai province to directly enjoy and admire the country's excellent athletes competing. At the same time, it is also an opportunity for the province to introduce the beautiful land of Gia Lai, with many poetic natural landscapes, typical cultural festivals, friendly, enthusiastic, hospitable people of the mountain town and unique culinary culture”, Mr. Tran Hong Nhung emphasized.

Mr. Le Tien Hung, Marketing Director, representative of the main sponsor, Ca Mau Petroleum Fertilizer Joint Stock Company, shared: "We feel proud to have accompanied athletes and coaches for the past 10 years to organize a useful playground, the Nhan Dan Newspaper National Table Tennis Championship. The tournament has brought sporting value, created opportunities for athletes to strive, thereby creating generations of promising table tennis athletes."

Next, on behalf of the athletes, athlete Nguyen Duc Tuan swore to compete with all his might for the noble spirit of sports to contribute to the success of the tournament. Representative of the referee team, Mr. Nguyen Tien Hung, Chief National Referee, International Referee also swore to manage and carry out the refereeing work of the tournament impartially.

Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper Le Quoc Minh, Head of the Steering Committee of the award, presented the commemorative medal to the leaders of Gia Lai province.

In the current annual table tennis competition system, there are two most important tournaments: the National Table Tennis Championship of Nhan Dan Newspaper with a large scale and professional level, gathering all the most professional and strongest players from provinces, cities and industries; along with that is the National Youth Table Tennis Championship for children and youth to search, discover and nurture the next generation of young talents.

Exciting and thrilling matches at the tournament.

Over the past 40 years, Nhan Dan Newspaper has accompanied the General Department of Sports and Physical Training, Vietnam Table Tennis Federation to organize the national table tennis championship and has constantly innovated, step by step towards organizing the tournament more and more professionally, with many methods to improve expertise, creating attraction and exciting competition for athletes of all delegations, worthy of the national top tournament of table tennis.